Disney cruise rescues Cuban fugitives wanted in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS --A Walt Disney Co. cruise ship has rescued three fugitives off the coast of Cuba who were wanted in New Orleans.

U.S. Marshal Amos Rojas Jr. said in a news release that last Thursday, the Disney Fantasy cruise ship found the fugitives clinging to a capsized boat. He says all three were wanted for violating their supervised release on federal credit card fraud charges in New Orleans.

Twenty-six-year-old Luis Rivera-Garcia, 23-year-old Juliet Estrada-Perez and 23-year-old Enrique Gonzalez-Torres were turned over to authorities in Florida after the Coast Guard discovered they were wanted fugitives via their fingerprints.

The fugitives were Cuban nationals who were living in the United States, reports the Baton Rouge, Louisiana newspaper The Advocate. Rojas says authorities believe the three may have been fleeing to Cuba to avoid prosecution.

The newspaper reports the three were among six people arrested in August for allegedly using skimming devices to steal credit card numbers from pumps at a gas station in Harahan, Louisiana. Detectives said the six, who were from South Florida, encoded the stolen numbers onto counterfeit gift and prepaid debit cards.